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Letters - Eight things to improve the U.S. Tax law

By Kirby Greene, Dalton on Dec 12, 2012 at 11:30 a.m.

Here is a letter that I am sending to the Member of Congress from my District and the two Senators from Minnesota. If you or your readers think this concept has merit, I ask you to clip it out and mail it, or copy it and forward it to yours:

I am sick and tired of the endless discussions of how to "ding" around with the current, many thousand pages of Tax-Law. Here are eight points that seem desirable to me, as a citizen. It requires totally scrapping the existing and confusing U.S. Tax-Code. That would be replaced by a simple to understand National Sales Tax, or NST.

1. This is a "pay as you go tax." If I buy something, I pay the tax. It's a done deal. No follow up or IRS agent to intrude in my life!

2. It reflects the real state of the economy. As economic conditions improve in the USA so will the government tax collections.

3. Everybody pays; it invites citizen participation and support of our national life and goals; corporations too. Deductions and loopholes don't apply. Everyone who buys, pays: Tourists and visitors, including the more than seven million illegal immigrants in the USA, will help support the land they live in.

4. There are no exceptions or exemptions. All sales and services; in fact all transactions are covered. This means retail sales; but also includes groceries, medical services, funeral services and "pot" where legal. Luxury sport cars and limousines as well as multimillion dollar homes and properties too, everything!

5. Congress will be more responsible with our money. For instance; if it is decided on five percent as the tax rate for this all inclusive National Sales Tax, I'll bet you "a dollar, to the hole in a doughnut" that politicians will be very reluctant to sponsor an amendment to raise that nickel on the dollar, to eight or 12 or 20 percent soon!

6. All Savings Accounts are now tax-free. Interest rates will likely return to meaningful figures, once the Federal Reserve no longer has to just print more dollar bills.

7. NST will vastly increase voter turnout in the USA. Once you've got their money; you've got their attention too.

8. Reduce the National Debt. It's a simple matter to add an extra 1 percent that is legally dedicated for this purpose; then maybe we'll get our representatives in government to do what we sent them to do for us in our stead.

And to top it off, there's no Federal Income Tax forms anymore! -- Kirby Greene, Dalton